Windows 8.1 to bring back familiar parts of Windows 7

Paul Thurrott posted on WinSuperSite.com, via unnamed sources, that the Windows team had objections to restoring the Start button for the first major update to Windows 8. However, it appears that Microsoft's upper management made an executive decision and overruled the Windows team, telling them the Start button is back in the Windows 8.1 desktop UI. The article does not give any specifics on which members of the Microsoft executive team pulled the trigger to put the Start button back in Windows 8.1.8.1 is bringing back some familiar parts of Windows 7

With news emerging that Microsoft will be bringing the Start button back to Windows 8 in the "Blue" update and allowing users to boot directly to the desktop, one has to wonder whether there's any real strategy occurring in Redmond anymore. If the goal is to make Windows 8 more like Windows 7, maybe they should forget the name Windows 8.1 and just call it Windows 7.8.

Mary Jo Foley has reported on Microsoft's plans to bring back the Start button and allow customers to boot directly to the desktop in Windows 8.1 And I've separately confirmed that this is really happening, with the Start button, in particular, driven by upper management, which overruled objections from the Windows team. And while there are certainly questions about these decisions, I think we should narrow the discussion to the core concerns: Why now? And why didn't Microsoft simply design Windows 8 this way from the beginning?

Windows 8 is notable for many reasons, but one of the more astonishing aspects of that release, given Microsoft's history, is that it drove aggressive, mobile-oriented UI changes into Windows without providing ways—even hidden ways—to return to the previous interfaces.

For example, when Windows 95 shipped with the then-new Explorer user interface, customers who pined for the previous Program Manager interface could reconfigure it for that by editing an INI file. And when Microsoft radically changed the Start menu in Windows XP, it allowed customers to return to what it called the "classic Start menu" so that the system more closely resembled its predecessor, Windows 2000.

But Windows 8 offers none of these customer-centric niceties. A pop-up Start tip replaces the Start button, a full-screen Start screen replaces the Start menu, and the PC now boots into the mobile 'Metro' environment instead of the desktop, even on traditional computers. And in each case, there is no way to configure the system to go back to the previous interface. This is a first for Microsoft and Windows, and as I reported last summer, the firm even went to the drastic step of removing legacy Start menu code from the internals of Windows to ensure that third party developers wouldn't be able to do so either. (Developers have instead been forced to recreate these interfaces manually instead, a process that is more time- and resource-intensive.)

Was that a good decision? No, absolutely not. On the one hand, I salute Microsoft for finally acting decisively and pushing forward with a new way of doing things without watering it down, as they'd always done, with backwards-looking alternatives. But on the other hand, doing so is deeply antagonistic to customers, in particular the bread-and-butter corporate customers that will not be buying new-age tablets and hybrid PCs anytime soon regardless. They have completely alienated too many of their own customers.

One might theorize that this wrong-headed decisiveness is what led to Steve Sinofsky's departure from Microsoft, and that the current edict to fix things from on high is something that could never have happened with him still in charge. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that Microsoft, is belatedly, is finally listening to feedback from its customers and changing the product as a result. That is, by far, the most alarming thing that didn't happen—Windows division protestations to the contrary notwithstanding—during the Sinofsky regime.

Put simply, Microsoft should have designed Windows 8 this way from the beginning, and didn't because the Windows division was given too much free reign after its Windows 7 successes. And it's doing it now because the leadership that triggered six years of ignoring customer wishes is no longer there.As a result, Windows 8.1 will more closely resemble Windows 7 than the original Windows 8 version.

With the leak of 9374, we expect to learn more about Microsoft's plans for Windows 8.1 which will debut later this year, but before that happens, here's a walkthrough of the build that will show you some of the early changes to the platform.

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#4581606 Posted on: 04/22/2013 12:04 PMBesides...win key sucks hard, many players just rip it off for own good...nothing more frustrating than missclick with alt and going to desktop while fire exchange in bf3 or similar game...

Or they just buy a gaming keyboard where you can disable the win key......

#4581635 Posted on: 04/22/2013 01:02 PM
Hardly a hyperbole, I didn't even know that was possible. If I didn't know, what are the odds an average user does when Microsoft don't even list it under their list of changes or new functions? What are the odds a first time user would know? Compare that to a first time user simply entering what they want in a search bar.

And I reiterate, that is still no reason to hide it from a search. What if I simply wanted a quick way to pin an icon rather than use a menu so I can access it in a single click rather than two? I don't see why any function or tool should be hidden from a search.

Computer management only appears in a search if admin tools are enabled or if it has been manually pinned. By default it does not show, nor does any other "administrator" tool.

I don't see why everyone is so defensive when it's such a pointless limitation. I searched for it, it didn't show, there is no reason for that to be regardless how many shortcuts or methods there are to access it. Next will you argue that the Ribbon interface or Metro are also good ideas?

There's half a dozen or so new things to learn, its not hard fella. Do you avoid using Android machines too as you'll have to learn new stuff?

#4581640 Posted on: 04/22/2013 01:12 PM
I hope that you can turn off the direct desktop boot if anyone wants to try the new Windows 8 interface. Or for the users who are used to the Metro interface.

MasterBash
Master Guru

Posts: 656
Joined: 2003-07-11

#4581642 Posted on: 04/22/2013 01:18 PM
I can't tell if you're serious, I searched for a list of new commands, which is what I said. It's not there. You're grasping at straws. And I'm not sure if you understand that shortcut doesn't work for me either. I haven't tried right clicking the corner yet but I wouldn't be surprised if that's disabled by default as well.

Name one good reason for anything to be hidden from the search.

Shall I complain about more things since you have no real argument against that complaint? Why does it ask for permission to proceed on most things when I am logged into an admin account and UAC is disabled?

If youre not familiar with keyboard shortcutsor youd like to see a list of shortcuts in one placesee the bigger list of keyboard shortcuts.

Straight from the website. Whoopie doo. Its not under the "new", but if you are not aware of a shortcut, you might want to read them all.

sapo_joe
Master Guru

Posts: 443
Joined: 2009-02-10

#4581684 Posted on: 04/22/2013 02:45 PM
Finally a new-usable windows!

If it has a proper desktop experience, I'll be glad to upgrade... For now, Windows 7 X64 for me!

lucidus
Ancient Guru

Posts: 7450
Joined: 2011-12-31

#4581692 Posted on: 04/22/2013 02:58 PM
I'll believe it when I see it.